| 1. |
- Arvidson, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Advocacy Compromised : How Financial, Organizational and Institutional Factors Shape Advocacy Strategies of Civil Society Organizations
- 2018
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Ingår i: Voluntas. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0957-8765. ; 29:4, s. 844-856
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromised advocacy can be linked to financial, organizational and institutional factors. The article draws on an original survey of 2678 Swedish CSOs. The analyses show that certain levels of funding make CSOs more likely to hold back in their criticism, but also organizational and institutional factors play a role. The results identify the importance of distinguishing between objective and subjective factors related to how dependency is framed. It is the felt needs, experiences and perceptions of CSOs themselves that make hem prone to the strategic choice to hold back criticism of public authorities.
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| 2. |
- Arvidson, Malin
(författare)
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Change and Tensions in Non-profit Organizations: Beyond the Isomorphism Trajectory
- 2018
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Ingår i: Voluntas. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0957-8765. ; , s. 1-13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research on the relationship between non-profit organizations (NPOs) and the public sector has been dominated by predictions of isomorphism where change and tensions in NPOs are attributed an imposing institutional setting. This article argues that research represents a selective perspective on organizational life due to its portrayal of organizational change as synonymous with an isomorphic, linear trajectory. The purpose of this article is to illustrate different sources and characteristics of change and tension. The article presents an analytical framework comprising of four components: evolving change, episodic change, inherent dilemmas, and conflicting logics, facilitating an understanding of the organization as movement. The analysis of a case study organization suggests that by identifying different dimensions of changes and tensions we can gain a richer understanding of the complexity of processes underpinning the organization as movement. The analysis reveals how multiple, parallel processes related to change and tensions generate reflections that drive integrity and identity formation at individual and organizational levels.
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| 3. |
- Baxter, Megan K, et al.
(författare)
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The Paradox of Elites in Civil Society: A Comparative Study on Civil Society Leaders’ Satisfaction with Democracy in the UK and Sweden
- 2024
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Ingår i: VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. - 0957-8765.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The presence of an elite group in civil society elicits a discursive friction between the long-standing normative understanding of civil society, acting as a check on government overreach and autocratic tendencies, and elite theories. Robert Michels’s iron law of oligarchy posits that as individuals rise in the ranks to become organizational leaders, they begin to take on elite attributes, and their priorities align with those of other elites and away from those of their constituents. Michels’s argument echoes with today’s populist anti-elitist rhetoric and the way populism rejects any intermediary bodies between the people and the political leaders, including interest organizations in civil society. As an attempt to empirically probe this theoretical tension, this paper explores satisfaction with the way democracy is working among the top-level leaders of the most well-resourced national-level civil society organizations in Sweden and in the UK, drawing on a survey study conducted in 2020–21.
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| 4. |
- Borkowska, Magda, et al.
(författare)
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Civil Society, Neighbourhood Diversity and Deprivation in UK and Sweden.
- 2023
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Ingår i: VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. - 0957-8765 .- 1573-7888.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores the relationship between neighbourhood level density of civil society organisations (CSOs), diversity, and deprivation. We compare the UK and Sweden, two countries with different civil society traditions and welfare state regimes. We use data on formal civil society organisations to examine whether diverse neighbourhoods have lower levels of civil society infrastructure. In the UK, contrary to what could be expected from Putnam's assertion that diversity has a negative effect on trust, thus limiting civil society activities at the neighbourhood level, we observe a positive relationship between the density of CSOs and diversity. In Sweden, we find different patterns. First, we observe a negative correlation between CSO density and diversity. Second, we find lower density of formal CSOs in areas with high diversity and high economic disadvantage and higher density in areas characterised by low diversity and high disadvantage.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Diani, Mario, et al.
(författare)
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‘‘Right to the City’’ and the Structure of Civic Organizational Fields : Evidence from Cape Town
- 2018
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Ingår i: VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. - : Springer. - 0957-8765 .- 1573-7888.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract This article proposes a network analytic approach to the role of frames in shaping the structure of civic organizational fields. Adopting a perspective from the global South, it looks at the impact of the expression ‘‘Right to the city’’ (RTC) over alliance building among civil society actors, exploring patterns of collaborative ties among 129 civil society organizations active in Cape Town from 2012 to 2014. The article addresses two broad ques- tions: What is the relation between RTC and other frames that are also frequently invoked to describe urban struggles and issues? Does the RTC frame affect the structure of urban civic organizational fields in significant ways? Data suggest that while RTC plays a significant role in local civil society, it is neither the only interpretative frame that Capetonian civic organizations draw upon to characterize their activity, nor the more salient. ‘‘Urban conservation,’’ especially tied to nature conservation and environmental issues, actually shapes the structure of local organizational fields in a sharper manner. This is, however, a potentially more divisive frame, rooted as it is in the apartheid legacy that still shapes urban dynamics in the city.
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| 7. |
- Einarsson, Stefan
(författare)
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The Revitalization of a Popular Movement: Case Study Research from Sweden
- 2011
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Ingår i: Voluntas (Manchester, England). - : Springer US. - 1573-7888 .- 0957-8765. ; 22:4, s. 658-681
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article tries to enhance knowledge about organizational characteristics and processes that are important for mitigating oligarchic tendencies in the governance of CSOs, and to discuss the factors that condition the operation of these characteristics and processes. Civil society is frequently seen as an important part of societal governance and discussed as the intermediary link between the individual and society. This connection is often made through the aggregate function of civil society organizations (CSOs). Currently there are discussions regarding the decline of traditional cross-class federative CSOs and the possible effect of this on democracy in society. This article presents a longitudinal case study of the governance within a large, membership-based federative CSO and illustrates the revitalization of a CSO and its mission through the influx of a new group of members from the surrounding environment. The author argues that this revitalization process was possible partly because the proposed changes were in keeping with the organization’s original ideological core and partly because of the organization’s open democratic governance system. This permeability is found at two levels: first, the borders are open for individuals to enter the organization as members, and second, the borders of the internal governance system are open for members to take part in the decision-making process. This enabled ideas to percolate up from the members through the democratic decision-making system to the top of the organization, and some ideas are translated into statutes and policies, which then trickle down to the members again through the executive structure. The conclusion is that a functioning democratic governance system, which is able to stay true to the organization’s ideological core at the same time as it is able to modify it in light of societal change, seems imperative for this kind of organization. By doing this, the organization is not just staying true to its original mission but also actively contributing to democracy in society by including new groups into the decision-making process.
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| 8. |
- Eriksson, Erik
(författare)
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Incorporation and Individualization of Collective Voices : Public Service User Involvement and the User Movement’s Mobilization for Change
- 2018
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Ingår i: VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. - : Springer-Verlag New York. - 0957-8765 .- 1573-7888. ; 29:4, s. 832-843
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ‘Service user involvement’ is a widespread and well-known phenomenon within welfare policy and practice in Western countries and is usually perceived as a way of improving welfare services to better aid service users in managing their predicaments. However, the presented ethnographical study of service user involvement within a Swedish psychiatry organization shows that user involvement initiatives might also result in unintended and undesired effects on the collective user movement (i.e. the service user organizations involved in the activities). The analysis suggests that initiatives on user involvement might affect both the constitution of the user movement as well as the way the movement operates. Theoretically co-optation theory informs the analysis.
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| 9. |
- Eschweiler, Jennifer, et al.
(författare)
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The Reciprocity Dimension of Solidarity : Insights from Three European Countries
- 2019
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Ingår i: VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. - New York, NY : Springer. - 0957-8765 .- 1573-7888. ; 30:3, s. 549-561
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article argues that closer attention to how solidarity is understood and expressed in different European contexts can shed light on the conditions for establishing a social and solidarity economy. Drawing on data collected within the H2020 SOLIDUS project, which explores current expressions of European solidarity, the comparative analysis covers three social economy initiatives, each representing a country with different political and economic context. The analysis focuses on solidarity as reciprocity and, in particular, how it is affected by such factors as actor motivations, internal participatory functioning, resource mix and political legitimacy. While further empirical work is needed, the findings suggest that solidarity as reciprocity produced by social and solidarity economy organisations thrives where political institutions are both supportive and trusted, where public funding is accessible, and where partnerships with relatively autonomous social and solidarity economy organisations are genuinely collaborative. © 2019, The Author(s).
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| 10. |
- Essen, Johan von
(författare)
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The Shifting Meanings of Popular Engagement in Swedish Society
- 2019
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Ingår i: VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0957-8765 .- 1573-7888. ; 30:1, s. 29-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this article is to contribute to the Swedish debate on popular engagement by studying changes in popular engagement in Swedish society, and particularly look for processes of depoliticisation and politicisation since the beginning of the 1990s, by asking, has popular engagement been depoliticised since the beginning of the 1990s? Popular engagement has historically had different roles and fulfilled different functions; consequently, it is a societal phenomenon with several and competing significances due to varying dominant discourses framing the understanding of popular engagement and structuring the actions of engaged citizens. Obviously, the present composite of popular engagement in Swedish society reflects Swedish history and the various present forms of engagement can be conceived as historical layers. How popular engagement has been framed, valued and understood through history is an indication of what is supposed to be needed and feasible in a particular society at a certain time. This gives popular engagement symbolic meaning that renders it political significance and power that can be studied in cultural history. The article offers a brief historical review of the symbolic meanings of popular engagement in Swedish society from the breakthrough of modernity until the present times, and it demonstrates that it has not had a fixed significance over the years. Particular attention is given to an on-going subtle change of meaning of popular engagement occurring in contemporary Swedish society. This process implies a break with the popular mass movement tradition.
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